Vegan and Low Carb?

Is this even possible? Apparently, it is. I went to a nutritionist last Wednesday because I’ve been struggling on many levels, all leading back to the food I’m eating. Even if I wasn’t vegan, the odds are still stacked against me. I’m a stress eater. I thought I had fixed that problem with having the gastric bypass soon-to-be 5 years ago. If I couldn’t overeat, then the problem is fixed, right? Well, no. That doesn’t solve the problem. I don’t have to overeat to gain weight. It’s all about the choices we make. I have made a lot of different choices in the past 5 years, first was to be vegetarian. If you are a past follower of my previous blog on my bypass surgery, you will know I have not been successful in processing meat since my surgery. Which didn’t really bother me. I was never much of a fan of meat growing up.

Let’s take this back to the beginning, might be easier. In 2012, I weighed 256. I had tried many different diets, workouts and none of it worked for me. I just kept gaining and at this point, my daughter was 7th grade. I wanted to be healthy for her. Both my parents were diabetic, and I needed to make some serious changes. So on May 25, 2012, I had gastric bypass surgery. By the end of my first year, I had reached 173 lbs. I felt good. I had energy. I started liking myself again. I liked the way I looked and felt. I was happy. Then, my daughter and I moved out of my parent’s house and lived about 45 min north of them. This was stressful. We’d had a falling out and my weight suffered. I bounced around weight-wise for the next 4 years, which brings me to now, 2017. Soon-to-be 5 years from my surgery. I have gained by 21 lbs since my lowest point and this doesn’t make me feel very good. I’m losing my confidence. I dare say, but it’s true, I’m starting to hate myself again, and that is unacceptable. It’s time to do something about this before all my previous efforts are lost. Last July, my wife and I became vegan, and I love it. I’ve always had stomach issues and cutting dairy out along with the meat was the answer. My stomach doesn’t hurt anymore, but I’m extremely tired all the time. I was anemic, but I had an iron infusion which corrected that. I’m deficient in my b12 and vitamin D. I just started b12 shots. I haven’t felt any difference yet, but it’s only been a few days. Plus, my thyroid is out of whack. I have hypothyroidism. My primary has been increasing my meds and I’m tested monthly for that, but we haven’t corrected it yet. So, off I went to a nutritionist. I weighed in at 195.4. She had suggestions for my thyroid. I was to set my alarm and hour early and take me medication before getting out of bed. After an hour, I could eat. Also, I could not have any soy products in the morning.

The new diet plan will be for 4 weeks. I will drink 2 protein (from pea protein) shakes a day. I can have a handful of nuts or raw veggies with hummus or full fat peanut butter with them. I can mix the shake with water or unsweetened almond milk, but I can not mix in anything. No fruit, veggies or peanut butter. I drink it straight. (I figure it’s just 4 weeks. It can’t kill me.)

Then, I get one snack, either nuts, raw veggies with hummus or full fat peanut butter, scrambled tofu or anything else low-low in carbs. Then for dinner, I can have 1-2 portions of my vegan protein and 1-2 portions of vegetables. I can not have any bread, pasta, rice, potato, corn, pizza, cookies, crackers, tortilla, sweets, processed snacks or breaded “meats”.

My shakes just have to have 20g of protein and no more than 10g of carbs. This is the brand I buy. The vanilla one and coconut almond one is

exactly 20/10. The chocolate one is 20/13. But I’d already ordered it, and it tastes amazing, which is awesome on it’s own. Pea protein shakes can taste chalky and too much like vitamins. I love this brand. I order it from Amazon. I’ve also bought the unflavored one for when I can go back to having smoothies. I miss my green smoothies.

I also can have some fruit at night. The doctor said melons and berries were her preferred ones. So, I typically have watermelon or cantaloupe.

Tomorrow will be at the one week mark for the new diet. Since I’m posting this a day early, my numbers may be off a bit, but close enough. Oh, before I give you todays weigh in, I must explain one thing. Not all scales are the same. When I can home from the nutritionist, my scale said I was 197, two pounds heavier than hers. My weight this morning was 192.6. I’m quite happy with that. That’s a weight loss of 4.4 lbs. My only worry is whether I’m getting enough calories. Because of the gastric surgery, I can only fit so much in my belly. My biggest calorie day was yesterday at 998 calories. I had 81.3 g of protein and 55.3 g of carbs. I never felt hungry, so I guess it was ok. I go back to the doctor June 12th.

I will check back in before next week and update you and pass on some new recipes. I am currently in love with my turmeric, zucchini and coconut milk soup. Has only about 2-3 carbs per serving. It’s the perfect in between snack.

Search

Search for:

Text Widget

This is a text widget, which allows you to add text or HTML to your sidebar. You can use them to display text, links, images, HTML, or a combination of these. Edit them in the Widget section of the Customizer.

Text Widget

This is a text widget, which allows you to add text or HTML to your sidebar. You can use them to display text, links, images, HTML, or a combination of these. Edit them in the Widget section of the Customizer.

Search

Search for:

Text Widget

This is a text widget, which allows you to add text or HTML to your sidebar. You can use them to display text, links, images, HTML, or a combination of these. Edit them in the Widget section of the Customizer.